We have all heard the saying, “Before you can love others we must first love ourselves.” Self-love is the strong sense of respect for and confidence in oneself. It is different from narcissism in that as one practices acceptance and detachment, the awareness of the individual shifts and the individual starts to see themselves as an extension of all there is. Self-love can be taught in childhood through honesty, acceptance and unconditional love. Since most parents have their own self-doubts and limiting beliefs, they project these onto their children and the cycles of self-rejection and self-abuse repeat themselves. This statement is actually very true. The way we see ourselves and care about ourselves is how we will see and care about others. The love we have to towards ourselves helps build our self-esteem. The greater the self-esteem, the greater the personality. Many young people today seem as though they struggle with their self-esteem. Some tend to put their pain and hurt out in the open because secretly they are desperately crying out for help.
I learned at young age to love myself for who I was, not for who I am not. Accept the fact that you will never be like everyone else. God made us to be unique individuals. We must learn to recognize the great qualities that we each have as individuals. Look for the good in yourself not the negative. Growing up, I was missing out on the important things that a child needs to have, great self-esteem. Though I lacked certain things in my life, such as my mother and father, I was able to manage to have a unique personality. I taught myself to be truthful, to love God who created me, to have compassion for others and to accept them for who they are. People need to see that as an individual you must learn to accept who you are and learn to accept others for who they are. This doesn’t mean trying to fix others or change others but just to come to terms with the fact that not everyone is like you. We all have different views of the world, no one person is the same. Love yourself as much as you love your family; love yourself as much as you would love others.
If you can learn to love yourself and all the flaws, you can love other people so much better. And that makes you so happy. - Kristin Chenoweth
Generally people don’t see that not loving themselves can affect relationships with others, especially for couples. If you can’t accept yourself for who you are how you can accept your wife or husband for whom they are? Your attitude about yourself reflects how you feel about them, which can lead to negative results. When you realize that you are not perfect and that you’re going to make mistakes is when you realize you are only human. Don’t go around beating yourself up over something insignificant Pull out things that are significant like the great qualities that you have. Look for things that make you standout. Everyone is good at something, everyone has that special thing that makes them attractive but it’s up to you to discover what that one thing is.
Don't ever criticize yourself. Don't go around all day long thinking, 'I'm unattractive, I'm slow, I'm not as smart as my brother.' God wasn't having a bad day when he made you... If you don't love yourself in the right way, you can't love your neighbor. You can't be as good as you are supposed to be.
Joel Osteen